DISINFO: Ukraine shot down MH17 instead of Putin's plane
SUMMARY
In July 2014, the Ukrainian Army was planning to shoot down the plane President Vladimir Putin was travelling in, but they failed and shot down MH17 instead.
RESPONSE
Recurring Russian disinformation about the crash of MH17, suggesting that Ukrainian forces were responsible for shooting down the plane whilst attempting to assassinate Vladmir Putin. There is no proof that Ukraine wanted to shoot down Vladimir Putin's plane. Moreover, the results of the investigation of the Joint Investigation Team are clear: flight MH17 was shot down by a missile from the 9M38 series, which was launched by the BUK TELAR system. The system was transported from the Russian Federation to an agricultural field near the city of Pervomaiskiy in eastern Ukraine, from where the rocket was launched. After firing, the system with one missing missile returned to the Russian Federation. On May 24 2018, JIT announced in its conclusion that the Buk belongs to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces in Kursk, Russian Federation. The public hearing on the incident started on 9 March 2020 in the Netherlands.